I'll Be Your Anchor
by for you to figure out
Summary: He would watch her as she watched everyone else. He knew she perceived the world differently. Closely, carefully, taking in every detail before forming a conclusion. He knew she never wanted anything in particular. But he was prepared to give her the world.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi yeah. A little new. I know it's not perfect but it's all I got and if you like it then I'm glad (: **

**I do not own Austin & Ally. No Copyright intended.**

Stupid. Ugly. Fat. Geek. Loser.

Stupid.

She wasn't, though . She was smart. Smarter than the rest of her eleventh grade class, that is. But that was book smarts. The type of smart that society is looking for is not what the entire formula for pi is. They want someone who is "_smart_" enough to sacrifice their morals to be popular or cool. She didn't meet that status.

Ugly.

She had never really thought about it before. She always just existed. She never realized that her nose was a bit too pointy or that her mouth far too angled to be normal. Her smile was awkward so she stopped the happy gesture all together. Too many flaws, too little ways to fix them.

Fat.

She didn't really notice that she gained a few pounds over the summer. She didn't think going from 96 pounds to 104 really made a difference, but apparently she was wrong. When her favorite skirt didn't fit the next month it wasn't because of those 8 pounds.

Geek.

She knew this was true. She liked math… and science… and English… and anything that involved learning something new. Maybe it was time to put the textbooks down and pick up the eyeliner and mascara.

Loser.

She guessed that was true. She had never really been the judge of herself though. That was society's job. She never wanted it to be this way.

* * *

She walks up to the doors of her high school. Big, blue, and boring. She's seen them every school day for two and a half years. She doesn't want to see them anymore.

Her locker is the same. Her class rooms are the same. The people are the same.

He's different. Every day he sits in the same seat surrounded by the same attention craving people with the same hair and the same eyes. They're fake.

But he's not.

He sees her. He knows she's there. He knows she's struggling. He can see it. Every time Cassidy or Brooke calls her a name he can see it. When she is tripped or pushed or shoved he sees it. Because he sees her.

"I've seen you around." He tells her one day when he takes a seat next to her in the library.

She holds her breath and tightens her grip around the edges of her book.

"If you're here to tell me how horrid I am I'll save you the time. I already know." She whispers closing her eyes and waiting for the retaliation.

It doesn't come.

"I'm not here to hurt you." He tells her. She looks up into kind brown eyes shining with sincerity.

"Well I guess there is a first time for everything." She tells him and then she's gone. She disappears from the seat in front of him faster than he can blink. He turns to watch her leave and smiles.

* * *

The next time they meet it's at her locker. She drops a book and some stupid brunette boy kicks it down the hall laughing as he goes. She sighs, pushing some hair behind her ear. She walks to the end of the hall but the book is no longer there. Her eyebrows furrow when a tap on her left shoulder causes her to turn around. There he is. Dangling that stupid _Romeo & Juliet_ play book in front of her face. He sees that her face is turning red and that people are staring.

"Make her work for it, Aus." Cassidy calls from down the hall.

"Forget that she's not worth it. Just spit on it." That one comes from Dallas who is standing idly at his locker.

She waits holding back the burning sensation is her eyes. He doesn't do these things though. He lowers it slowly watching her with stormy eyes. He places it in her hands and shivers when he brushes her knuckles with his own. She looks down at the book then up at the blonde standing in front of her.

"You're welcome." He whispers. This time it's his turn to walk away.

And that's exactly what he does.

She stands there, a little confused, watching his back as he leaves her in the middle of the hallway. The stares get worse throughout the day. They think she's sleeping with him. Cassidy gives her a nice shove and Brooke makes sure to remind her not to eat her lunch. It will make her chubbier than she already is.

She sits alone on a bench outside when he finds her.

"Why aren't you eating?" He asks and she looks at him.

"Not hungry." She looks down at her book and he stares at her with his hands in his pockets and his eyes squinted.

"Bull shit." He tells her but she doesn't lift her eyes from her book.

"I don't know you so there's no way you can know me." She tells him simply.

"I'm willing to fight to prove you wrong about me."

"I haven't said anything about you."

"You don't have to. I see it on your face. You think I'm just like them." She looks up at him now.

"I have no reason to trust you."

"Then I'll give you one." He states with pure fire in his eyes.

She stands up and begins to walk away. She stops when he calls out to her.

"I'm not who I look like. You should know what it's like to be a book judged by its cover."

She meekly looks over her shoulder slightly before turning fully and clutching the edge of her book tighter.

"Why me?"

"Because I like you."

"You don't know me."

"Don't have to." He whispers walking closer and closer until he is face to face with the girl driving him insane. "They say when you know when you love someone. Well here is reality Ally Dawson I love you. I don't know why yet… but I will."

* * *

It turns out Austin Moon, king of the school, had finally been right about something. She finds this out when he insists on coming to her house. They bake cookies and he eats more of the batter than she cooks. The smiles he gives her are real. Not the ones he gives to people at school. On the third batch she decides not to fight it and holds the wooden stirring spoon up to his mouth before he can reach for it.

Grinning he takes a slow bite watching her watch him. The way his lips curve and the way his eyes crinkle in the corners when he's happy. All too soon he's standing a little too close for comfort and she turns walking the few feet to the sink. The water runs as his smile fades and he sighs. She needs time. He gets it.

He just doesn't know how long he can wait.

She has been in his head for months—years, actually. Ever since freshman year when he saw her bright face at the registrar he knew she was meant for him. The way her hair was so dark yet so light and her eyes.

Oh, her eyes.

He would watch her as she watched everyone else. He knew she perceived the world differently. Closely, carefully, taking in every detail before forming a conclusion. He knew she never wanted anything in particular. But he was prepared to give her the world.

* * *

It takes weeks for her to let him in. He shows up at her house more and more often until every day at 5:23 Mr. Dawson would come home to a peaceful Ally and smiling Austin passed out on the couch. He smiles and covers them with the same blanket he always does. He wishes Austin would man up and put his arm around her. The couch is already small without them trying to keep their distance.

* * *

**YAY Chapter uno down and who knows how many to go. Tell me what you think. 3**


	2. Chapter 2

_**No copyright intended! (: I don't own Austin & Ally. Here's chapter two kiddo's! (:**_

* * *

He wakes up and she's there. He always wants her to be there. She yawns and rolls over but she apparently rolls a little too far. Before he knows it she's falling to the floor. Unfortunately for him, the blanket that was wrapped around both of them gets pulled down with her, causing him to tumble down as well. Her eyes open slowly and scan over his face.

He is only inches away, after all.

"If you were looking for a good time to get off me now would be it." She states after several moments of tension.

"Nah, I'm actually quite comfortable." His brown eyes light up with happiness so she allows it.

They stare at each other for a little bit. She notices the small freckles on the bridge of his nose and he admires the way her lips curve up, down, and then back up again.

It gets uncomfortable too fast.

"So why are we on the floor again?" She asks him and he smirks.

"Well you fell for my dashing good looks and charming smile while I just got pulled down with you."

"That is so not what happened!" She exclaims.

"Believe what you want Ally D. I'm just telling it from my point of view."

"Well, your point of view sucks worse than your modesty."

He smiles at the small pout she has on her face and finds that he was right to say he was in love with her.

Because if he wasn't already, he definitely is now.

* * *

He finds it odd when her dad asks him to stay for dinner with concerned eyes.

"Sir is there a reason you want me to stay?" He asks and the older man sighs.

"I was just hoping with you around she would eat a little bit more."

He stays. She eats.

* * *

She doesn't understand.

She's done everything.

"I'm trying!" She cries as Cassidy stands behind her in the girl's bathroom.

"Well obviously you aren't trying hard enough."

She watches in the mirror as Cassidy picks her apart.

Her thighs. Her stomach. He arms. Her chin. Her skin. Her nails.

She tries not to cry. She tries to ignore her. It doesn't work. It never does.

She's confused when Cassidy lifts up three fingers and points them toward her mouth. She's confused when Brooke barges in and tells her it would make everything better. She's confused when they lead her to a stall in the empty B wing girl's bathroom.

She's not confused when she's throwing up her breakfast.

* * *

100.

"Good." She thinks as she steps off the scale in her bathroom. "I'm almost there." She whispers trying to convince herself that what she's doing is okay.

It's not.

96.

She's back to what she wanted to be.

Only now it's not good enough.

Thinner. Skinnier. _Prettier._

90.

He starts to notice something's wrong. Her clothes, once fitting just right, are now too small. He doesn't say anything because she barely tells him her favorite activity. How could she trust him with whatever was bothering her?

85.

She's finally happy. Her rib cage is sticking out through her tank top and she smiles.

"No more fat. You're pretty now." The mirror in her mind seems to agree.

The real mirror? Not so much.

* * *

The next day at school she eats something rather large for lunch. Usually it's something small. She's never needed to do this at school before. Once she's finished she smiles at Austin and excuses herself politely. He notices her face looks a little queasy. He just thinks maybe she's not feeling well.

That is until he sees the look Cassidy gives her from across the room.

He sneaks through the hallway until he sees her walk into a bathroom. He waits.

And waits.

And waits and waits.

Something's wrong. He slowly walks to the door and opens it silently.

There she is on the floor throwing her hamburger back into the toilet. He lets the door slam and she jumps turning toward him. Tears grace her cheeks.

"Austin—" Her voice is rough and it's cracking but he holds up his hand to stop her.

She stands up and tries to walk toward him but half way there her hand clamps over her mouth and she turns back. He's immediately behind her and catches her around the waist. He lowers them both to the ground right before she throws up again. She's sobbing by now and he pulls the wet hair away from her temple.

"I'm s-sorry" She sobs into his chest and he looks up at the stupid tile ceilings. His bottom lip quivers and he squeezes his eyes shut. He wants to die. Here was this small girl, he thinks he's in love with, practically killing herself in front of him and he was too dim to notice.

He has his back to the closed stall door when he hears the bathroom door open. The clack of cheap pink heels is loud in his ears.

"Ally?" Cassidy calls out. "Ally, you're looking good. I'm actually impressed you got all that fat off those meat thighs."

He's careful as he pulls the very sick girl he's cradling to his chest up into a standing position. She crosses her arms and walks under his arm that is holding the pushed door open. His cold eyes meet Cassidy's and the blonde girl freezes.

He walks to the bathroom door and locks it. He turns back to one very broken girl hugging herself to keep the pieces together and once very scared girl staring at him with wide eyes.

"So" He starts. "Who wants to tell me what the fuck is going on?"

Neither of them budges. She looks like she's about to fall apart.

"Ally, come here." He whispers.

She looks up and scampers her way across the tile into his arms.

"Why are you hugging her?!" Cassidy shrieks and both of their eyes widen.

"What?" He whispers.

"It's not fair! I'm supposed to date you. You're supposed to like me! I've put so much effort into making her think she's ugly and fat when the whole world knows she's not! I've made her life hell because I can! Nobody loves her because of me! I did it because you are supposed to be with me! I saw the way you looked at her freshman year. It wasn't fair! So I did everything in my power to keep her away from you. Everything! Now look! She's an ugly little twig yet you still want her and not me? I don't understand!" She's screaming by now and her face is turning slightly red.

But not as red as his.

"You have been tormenting an innocent girl—a girl who didn't deserve _any_ of this—because of your stupid obsessive crush on me? Don't you realize that trying to push Ally away from me isn't going to make me love her less! It's going to make me hold onto her harder because I don't want to lose her. I will never love you. Ever. You're pathetic. Don't you dare speak to Ally again."

And then they're gone, leaving an opened mouth Cassidy in their wake.

* * *

_**Chapter 3 should be up sometime next week. Keep your eyes open! (: **_


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